“The Client” Book Review

The problems of the contemporary criminal justice system are widely argued
in the society and it is not a secret that this system is far from perfect.
The book The Client by John Grisham also proves the fact that the criminal justice
system is not very effective and, actually, it is very difficult to make the
system work effectively and protect the interests of ordinary people, like the
main character of the story Mark and his family. At the same time, the book
raises the problem of the lawyer ethics and way of actions which may be also
quite arguable, even though the author apparently supports the actions of his
positive characters.
On analyzing the book The Client, it is primarily necessary to underline the
fact that the entire story is built around the little boy, Mark who occasionally
came across a lawyer, Jerome who wanted to commit suicide after one of his Mafia
clients murdered the US Senator Boyd Boyette. Jerome knew about the crime of
his client and he even new the exact location where the body of the murdered
senator was buried. In the state of a deep shock which actually led him to the
decision to commit suicide he told the entire story to the boy, who attempted
to save the life of the poor lawyer.
However, instead of saving the life of Jerome, Mark put his own life as well
as the life of all members of his family at a great risk because the information
he possessed was the great threat to Mafia and since the moment when the boy
learned the story about the murder of Boyd Boyette the chase had started and
his life and the life of his family was at stake. In such a situation, the most
logical action, the little boy could do was to tell the entire story to his
parents who, in their turn, should call to the police and inform police officers
about all the mess their witnessed and about the presumable place where the
body of Boyd Boyette rested.
Nevertheless, the story is not as logic as that, otherwise, it would be quite
a different, probably routine, story. In actuality, the troubles of the boy
and his family had just begun. The boy as well as his family had little confidence
in the police, FBI and other law enforcement agencies. They do not even trust
to the US attorney Reverend Roy Foltrigg who wanted to find the corpse and arrest
the members of the mob. In fact, in the course of story Mark learned that he
cannot rely on anybody including the attorney. The authorities proved to be
amoral their only goal was to arrest the mob and sent its leaders to prison
even though the life of the witness would be at risk. Naturally, in such a situation,
when the intentions of the authorities were clear and when the boy did not have
any guarantees concerning the safety of his life, Mark was practically paralyzed
with fear but, nevertheless, he managed to find a person who should save him
and his family. This was Reggie Love, a 50 years old lawyer who was the last
hope for Mark and his family. Basically, Reggie Love was the only person whom
Mark could really trust because the authorities were not really interested in
his safety and he feared that he could simply become a pawn in the chess play
in which the authorities would sacrifice anyone for the only purpose to achieve
their goals and similarly Mafia would do its best to find and kill the accidental
witness who was a serious threat to Mafia because he knew where the body of
the Senator was buried.
As a result, Mark totally relied on Reggie and the future the boy and his family
depended on her skills and experience in solution of such “unusual”
problems. However, it is necessary to point out that the actions of Reggie Love
as a lawyer were also quite arguable. At any rate, it is hardly possible to
say that her actions were absolutely correct judging from the point of view
of a criminal justice specialist. Obviously, Reggie had no right to act in the
way she did because it was actually the violation of the existing norms and
procedures. In this respect, it should be said that she had right to get involved
in this craze chase with Mafia and the authorities where the major prize was
the dead body of the Senator. In actuality, Reggie Love, the lawyer, should
also refer to the authorities and attempt to defend her client in the totally
legal way, instead of hiding him not only from Mafia but also from authorities
whom the boy and his family did not trust.
The further development of the story represents the rapid progress and changing
complications which eventually logically ends with the decision Mark should
take at the beginning of the book. He is eventually convinced by Reggie to tell
all the truth about his adventure and about the story he learned from Jerome
to the FBI. The boy told where the dead body is buried and, in exchange, he
and his family entered the witness protection. In such a way, he eventually
found the safety and security he had been looking for practically since the
beginning of the story. In this respect, the contribution of the lawyer, Reggie
Love in such a happy ending of the story can hardly be underestimated, though,
on analyzing her actions as a lawyer, it was probably the only action she did
absolutely correctly and in accordance with the existing legal norms and procedures
because it was her primary task to convince her client, Mark to inform the police
or the FBI about the murder of the Senator Boyd Boyette. If Reggie Love managed
to convince her client in the necessity to inform the police or the FBI, she
would not only do what she was obliged to do as a lawyer but she would secure
her client from the Mafia.
In such a way, it is obvious that the entire story seems to be far from real
life and such a situation is practically unimaginable in the real life. And
it does not matter that there are some really strange characters such as Jerome,
who, being a professional lawyer, was ready to commit suicide, instead of going
to the police of appealing for the protection of the FBI. Instead he kept everything
in secret from law enforcement agencies but, on the other hand, he tells the
entire story to an absolutely strange boy, Mark. Mark in his turn commits a
serious of errors which has been discussed above as well as his lawyer, Reggie
Love, and eventually take the only correct decision – to tell the true
and enter the witness protection. Basically, the ending of the story is logical,
but the entire story does not look very logical but it looks like an imagined
story, a lesson for lawyers and potential witnesses teaching them what they
should not do when they got the information Mark got. In actuality, it would
be more logical if at the beginning of the story, Mark, a brave boy who saved
the life of Jerome, took the poor lawyer and brought him to the police or the
FBI, if possible involving media and the entire story would end without all
those fancied complications.

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